Contents

Lizzie begins mentoring a seventh-grade girl named Andie (Amy Castle), who begins to mimic her characteristics and behave like Lizzie. After initial liking, Lizzie starts to dislike Andie and advises Andie to stop aping her blindly and be herself. Finally, Andie ends up being Kate's protege. Meanwhile, Matt must earn a merit patch with his Wilderness Cadets group, or he would be demoted. Sam tries to help but ends up harming himself.

Gordo and Miranda may be stressed out about starting the eighth grade, but Lizzie feels great about it. She's so self-confident, in fact, that she's taken on mentoring a seventh-grader named Andie, even though Kate sneers at her for associating with a "sevy." Andie seems to worship the ground that Lizzie walks on, and it appears to be a great arrangement at first. But things start to turn a little creepy when Andie starts turning into a clone of Lizzie, imitating her hair style, then dying her hair, then dressing exactly like her! What's even more unnerving to Lizzie is how much Gordo and Miranda like her--even more than the real item, it seems! Gordo is especially taken with Andie, and he actually talks about dating her!

Meanwhile, Matt faces a crisis with his Wilderness Cadets group. He must earn a merit patch very soon, or be demoted to a Bunny Cadet! Dad tries to help him earn the patch but only proceeds to get a bad case of poison ivy and nearly sets himself on fire.

Lizzie is tormented by dreams of Andie stealing away her best friends, going after Ethan Craft (who Andie has already got her eye on), and even taking her place in the family. So when Lizzie comes home with Miranda one day to find Andi there unexpectedly visiting with her mother and Gordo, she lowers the boom. She tells Andie she doesn't appreciate her trying to become a clone of herself and lets her know that her mentoring days are over. Andie stalks out in anger. Gordo and Miranda think Lizzie might have been too rough on the girl, but the next day at school they find that Andie has a new role model to emulate--Kate!

Meanwhile Sam McGuire is still suffering injuries from trying to help Matt, but his son still hasn't earned his patch. But Jo figures out that Matt qualifies for a patch in first aid after taking care of his dad.

The filming dates were September 10-15, 2001. It was made about 3 in a half months after the filming of the last episode of season 1, "Lizzie and Kate's Big Adventure". The clapboards seen on the blooper reel at the end of the show are dated September 10 and September 14, 2001. The second one shown, dated September 14th had a small American flag on it, unlike the first. This was obviously a response to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States which occurred while this episode was being filmed.

According to its production number, this was the first episode shot for the second season. But in reality, it is the 14th episode of the second season to be broadcast. This has led to a great deal of confusion among Lizzie fans, who wondered if she has moved on to the eighth grade or was still supposed to be in the seventh.

Amy Castle, who played Andie, won a 2003 Young Artists Award for "Best Performance in a Comedy Series by a Guest Starring Actress" for this episode. The Young Artist Awards are given to actors under 18 years of age.

The stunt double for Sam was Tom Ficke.

Minor changes to the set of the McGuire's home: New refrigerator and blue paint in the bookshelves near the family room.

When Andie and Lizzie are talking together at Lizzie's locker, the locker door is open at first, then closed in the following shots without anyone apparently closing it. After Ethan comes by, Lizzie is shown holding her purse in front of her by the straps, but in the next quick-cut shot a split-second later it's on her left shoulder. (In the blooper reel, there's a clip of Lizzie (Hilary Duff) moving her purse to her shoulder.)

After Mr. McGuire trips over a lawn gnome, a piece of the grass (obviously some kind of artificial turf) moves just a bit when he begins to rise up.

Almost immediately after rubbing the poison ivy leaves on his face, Sam has red spots appear. In reality, they would take some time to show up.

When Matt and Jo accidentally push Sam out of Matt's bedroom on his chair, Sam should have just crashed into the banister, and not fallen down the stairs.

Lizzie:(to Andi) I oversleep, I lose my keys, I trip in the cafeteria, I get stains on my clothes, my room is a mess and I try really, really hard to make my life look easy.

Matt:(after Andi leaves) You know, you also forgot to mention that you snore, you leave hair in the brush and that your toes stick together when it's hot out.Miranda:(turns to Lizzie, puzzled) They do?